Bedford Grove, the fundraising firm that worked on the campaigns of Kathleen Rice, Basil Smikle and Mary Wilmot, announced today that they have hired former public advocate Betsey Gotbaum.
Bedford Grove is currently comprised of Kristie Stiles, Celeste Wolter and Michael Giaccio, all former David Paterson campaign aides who struck out on their own when his re-election campaign collapsed.
The Politicker first wrote about them here.
While all three of their candidates lost, both Smikle and Rice had impressive fundraising hauls. The firm has been looking to expand into becoming an all-around political consulting shop.
While Gotbaum lacks political consulting experience, she did have to raise private funds while serving as public advocate to make up for money lost when Mayor Bloomberg slashed her office’s budget and she did fundraise for Rice’s rival, Eric Schneiderman.
The firm also announced the hiring of Ian McDonald, a former Gotbaum aide.
